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Media Release:

The University of Hawai‘i Board of Regents and President M.R.C. Greenwood today announced that the salary reductions proposed for UH faculty in the final formal offer to the University of Hawai‘i Professional Assembly (UHPA) will be implemented Jan. 1, 2010.

The administration’s formal written offer of Sept. 15, 2009 called for a temporary 5 percent salary reduction during a new two-year contract. This offer was rejected by UHPA. UHPA instead proposed a new four-year contract with a temporary 5 percent pay reduction in the first two years, followed by restoration to current salary levels plus a 7.5 percent salary increase in the third year and then an additional 7.5 percent increase in the fourth year. Negotiations are at impasse.

In separate letters to UHPA and members of the faculty, UH President Greenwood said the administration is implementing its Sept. 15 offer. Because it is being implemented over the shorter 18-month period, the temporary 5 percent salary reduction proposed for 24 months will be taken as a 6.667 percent temporary reduction over 18 months.

Greenwood said the administration decided to implement its final formal offer in order to sustain operations through the rest of this fiscal year and next. The university’s clerical and administrative, professional and technical staff, represented by HGEA, previously ratified new contracts that include equivalent temporary 5 percent salary reductions over the current two-year biennium.

While Greenwood supports salary increases for faculty, she noted that “until the economy improves and UH funding is stabilized, we simply do not have the money to meet the expectations of UHPA.”

The temporary salary reduction will not affect faculty members paid through non-appropriated funds, such as extramural contracts and grants. It will also not affect faculty members who retire before June 30, 2010.

“I remain committed to working with the leadership of UHPA and the faculty to reach a mutually acceptable settlement that responsibly addresses the university’s critical economic challenges and the longer term need for competitive faculty salaries,” Greenwood said.